Panipat’s Prem Temple a century-old beacon of women empowerment, spiritual leadership

Shree Prem Temple in Panipat was established by a woman saint in 1920s in Pakistan before Partition and managed by a women ‘Paramadhyakshas’ since its establishment.

The temple shifted to Panipat in 1947 and has since been spreading love, spirituality and compassion among people across India.

Kanta Devi ji Maharaj ‘Maharaj Guru’, the fifth and present ‘Paramadhyaksha’ of Shree Prem Temple said at present the temple had 13 branches in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP) and all were being managed by women saints ‘Sadhvis’ only.

Shree Prem Temple was established in Layyah Tehsil by the then ‘Paramadhyaksha’ (the founder) Shri Shri 1008 Shanti Devi Ji Maharaj, daughter of Shri Ghanshyam Das Chandna. Her father and grandfather were teachers in Pakistan but she turned to spirituality and built the temple. She had established the temple with ‘Thakur Ji’ an idol of Lord Krishna there for those women, who were victimised by their families and other reasons at that time.

At the time of Partition in 1947, the first Guruji Maharaj brought ‘Thakur Ji’ along with her to Panipat and continued the tradition by building the Shree Prem Temple. She had started the temple in an old house. In 1957, it shifted to Insaar Chowk, says present Maharaj Guru.

‘Our temple is based on five main ideologies of five ‘S’— sewa, simran, satsang, sanyam and sadgi — and followers across the country are obeying these ideologies,” she said.

Shree Prem Temple has two more branches in Panipat — Shri Raghunath Prem Mandir at Insaar Chowk, which was built in 1992 and Shri Shanti Prem Mandir in Patel Nagar, which was built in 1994 here. Apart from these three branches, the Prem Temple has branches in Sonepat, Dujana in Rohtak, Gudiani in Gurugram, Bahadurgarh, Jhajjar, and Kanpur and Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, she added.

All branches are being controlled by women ‘sadhvis’ only, and males are not allowed to stay in the temple without valid permission, the Fifth guru said.

The first Guru Maharaj Shanti Devi Ji had established a tradition for women before she died in 1980. After that Vasandi Bai ji Mahraj was appointed as the second guru, who managed the functioning of the temple for five years and was famous as ‘Avdhoot Sant’.

Vanti Devi ji Maharaj, became the third ‘Paramadhyaksha’ of the temple. She managed the functioning of the temple as per the tradition for 16 years.

Bal Brahamchari Prakash Devi ji Maharaj took over the charge of the temple as the fourth ‘Paramdhyaksha’ in 2001 after the death of the third guru. She served the temple for 13 years. After her death in 2014, the responsibility was given to Balbrahamchari Shri Kanta Devi ji Maharaj to continue the traditions as fifth ‘Paramadhyksha’. As many as 30 women are residing in the temple, she said.

Scores of women from nearby areas come to the temple to recite Ramayana, the fifth guru said.

The main vision of Shree Prem Temple is to help the needy people, said KL Dhingra, Trustee, Shree Prem Mandir Layyah Trust. The Trust is bearing the school fee of over 50 children studying in 10-12 schools in the city, he said. Apart from it, the marriage of poor and needy girls was also being organised from time to time and the expense was being beared by the Trust only, he said.

The devotees from across the globe reach here during the three-day long annual programme, which is organised from February 10 to February 12 every year, Dhingra asserted.

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